February 2018 archive

Pulse Width Modulation

MicroControllers are digital devices and usually do not have built in digital to analog converters (or DACs) to output an analog signal. Some, however, do have analog input. For digital output, the voltage is one of two values. Output voltage is either 0 volts or near equal to the voltage source (‘off’ or ‘on’). Using a technique …

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PIC Timer0 Code Generator and Calculator

PicKit2 PIC12F675

I needed an easy way to calculate Microchip PIC timer 0 values, so I created the PIC Timer0 Code Generator and Calculator.  If you are not familiar with PIC timers, there is a handy tutorial HERE. The calculator part, is a spreadsheet which calculates the timings and timer 0 frequency counter needed, given the  required …

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Controlling Things Based on Light Intensity

PIC12F683 with LDR

A PhotoCell or LDR (Light Dependent Resistor), used in a circuit, allows controlling things based on light intensity. Here is a circuit showing how to wire an LDR and demonstrates how controlling things based on light intensity is possible with a little help from a microcontroller. The thing being controlled in this circuit is simply an …

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